


Wrath of an Aberration

by EmeryldLuk



Series: Supernatural AU [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anger, Black Flames, Buffet, Dismembered Head, Gen, Hotel Elysium, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-22 21:28:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23267347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeryldLuk/pseuds/EmeryldLuk
Summary: Alice and Layla stop at a hotel for the night as the storm intensifies. Despite Layla's concerns about the place and the hosts, Alice insists on staying anyway.
Series: Supernatural AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1024764





	1. Just Like You

"You sure about this place?" Layla asked as Alice drove the car up to the Motel. Elysium Fields was written in bright lights above the front entrance.

Alice eased into one of the parking spaces. "Do you see the rain outside? I am tired of squinting through the water and this is the best looking place on this road. Or do you want to try driving?"

"Not really," Layla grumbled. "This place just gives me the creeps."

Alice shut off the engine and looked at her emo looking friend. "You getting one of your tingly senses?"

"A bit. Like being stuck in a strobe light."

"Okay, so we check in, scout the place out and if we find anything off, we leave. Camp out off the road. How does that sound?"

"So long as it isn't a trap." Layla opened the car door and ran for shelter. Inside, she and Alice shook off the raindrops rolling down their clothes and hair. They gazed in awe at the glass tables and plush couches in the lobby. Alice pulled her hair up into a loose knot and walked towards the man behind the counter typing rather quickly. He glanced up at her as Layla walked over.

"Checking in?"

"Yes. One room for two."

"Please fill this out." He pushed a pad of paper over to Alice. "Any luggage to bring in?"

"No we'll be good. Is it crowded tonight?"

"Just about full." His eyes drifted to Layla gathering her hair up in a loose braid. "Interesting."

"What is?" Alice smiled, meeting Layla's eyes for a moment.

"Oh, not usual to have a pair like you two. Your key." He held up a room key. Alice took it and bowed her head.

"Thank you very much," she said with a secretive smile. "Free breakfast?"

"Buffet, all you can eat."

Her eyes lit up like lightbulbs. "Yes!" she spun around, hands pressed together. "Did you hear that, Layla? they have a buffet!"

Layla cracked out a half smile and nodded. "Yes, I heard. You can gorge yourself once we check out the room."

"Then I better hurry," she exclaimed, rushing to the elevator. Layla rubbed her forehead and picked up both bags sitting on the floor.

About to go after her human friend, the receptionist suddenly cleared his throat. Layla stopped to frown at him. He smiled, though the smile never reached his eyes. "I hope you enjoy your stay. Like I said, we don't see people like you very often."

"People like me. Is that supposed to say something about the way I dress?"

"Not the way you dress. Just who you are. So, do enjoy your stay."

"Thanks, but no thanks, Creep." Layla shouldered her bags and stalked off, hitting the elevator key as it chimed.

The hotel room was classy with satin sheets in red and gold. Layla heard water running from the closed bathroom door. She walked in and dropped the bags on the one bed in the room. A small chocolate sat on the pillow closest to her, a wrapper crumpled up on the other side. Layla picked up the sweet and moved it to the very shiny, new looking desk. Then she stripped off her leather jacket, dropping it on the floor.

"The bathroom is amazing," Alice said, giddy with glee. She twirled, barefoot on the plush carpet. "This is the best motel we have been to in a long time. I just wish the boys were with us."

Layla sat on the bed. "I don't think that would be such a great idea, Alice. That guy at reception gave me the creeps."

"Seemed like a cool guy to me. What bothered you?" She sat down on the bed, curling her legs up next to her.

"He referred to me as if he knew I was different. I've had a weird feeling about this place from the start, but he definitely was off the chart."

"Good point. Saying people like us was a total weirdo thing. But first food."

"You go ahead. I'm tired from driving."

"That's cool." Alice sprang to her feet. "I'll bring you a plate."

Layla lay back, stretching her arms out, and lacing her fingers under her head. Her aching muscles creaked.

Her phone dinged. Layla dug into her back pocket. The text from Jack read, "Miss you. Killed a Vamp nest. Heading to Atlanta."

She sat up to text back, "Miss you too. Hunkered in a hotel for the night. Nasty storm here."

With the message sent, Layla stood and began stripping off her clothes. With her shirt off, she stepped into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Hot steam filled the room. She wriggled out of pants and underwear and stepped under the shower head.

As Layla stood under the running water, she let her mind drift and her vision change. She didn't have much from her mother besides her humanity and pyrokinetics. Most of her powers were more demonic in nature. But she did have a small ability for seeing future events.

In the foggy shower glass, she could see people fighting, kissing, making faces. They were all sorts, but mostly unfamiliar. The familiar faces were of Jack, and strangely of Dean Winchester. She saw herself, angry, burning. She saw a joking grin turn to horror.

A knock on the door broke her trance. Black eyes turned back to normal. There was another knock. Layla turned off the water.

"Did you forget your key?" She called, wrapping a towel about her body. When there was no reply, she grabbed the spare from the dresser and went to the door.

"Seriously, Alice, there's no need to-"

It was the receptionist at the door. He smiled at her as if he had just heard some ironic joke.

"My apologies for intruding, but I thought I should," he started to say, only to be rudely cut off.

"No."

"Sorry?"

"You intruded. Unless your name is Alice and you decided to cast an illusion to ruin my day, get lost."

"My apologies, but-"

"Not forgiven. I was meditating."

"In the shower?"

Layla glared at him. "My life, my rules. You are not welcome. Is that clear?"

He hesitated. "Shall I come back in an hour?"

"Don't. Ever." She slammed the door shut on his face.

Layla stepped back into the shower, but only for a quick rinse. Then she was redressed and taking a nap on the bed.


	2. Raging Inferno

When Layla woke up an hour later, her creepy, no-good, off feeling got worse. There was no sign that Alice had come back to the room with the promised food. Layla threw on her leather jacket and tucked a knife into her boot.

The hotel was quiet in the way it would have been at midnight. Layla stood at the door, listening to the thrum of the air conditioning. Pulling out her phone, she sent a quick text.

"Where are you?"

There was no reply. Layla padded down the plush carpet.

The entryway was empty. The buffet room was empty; not even a plate of food remained.

"Fuck." She punched the wall and put a hole in the red painted plaster.

"Please," She heard the creepy voice of the receptionist say, "save the violence for the humans. I spent ages on that wall."

"Humans. I knew there was something off about this place. Who are you?"

He smiled and adjusted his bowtie. "Mercury, God of messengers."

At the word God, Layla tensed. She itched to pull her knife and stab the guy right then and there.

"A God?"

"Just like you, my Dear." He gestured down one hallway. "Everyone else is waiting, if you wish to join us."

"Everyone, as in other Gods?"

"Yes. You must be quite the hermit. Didn't you get the invite?"

Layla quickly looked around again, all too aware of how empty the place felt. "Yeah, Invite. Didn't know it was for others. Lead on."

He guided her to a medium sized banquet room set up with one long U table set with platters. At first glance everything looked normal. A woman wearing a shiny red blouse with a low cut neck line sat at the head of the table, sampling something breaded.

At her side is a man in an expensive suit, a smirk on his face and his dark hair perfectly professional.

Two empty chairs sat on the close side of the table, a plate of some sort of finger food covered in a dark sauce between the wine glasses. Next to those chairs was a heavy set asian man with a shaved head and a square jawed business-man looking bloke.

On the far side sat a skinny blonde woman, one thick black man, an old white man in a fur lined jacket and a young man with curly light brown hair.

Mercury scanned the table and frowned. "It seems we are missing a chair. My apologies."

In a blur of movement, he had an extra chair placed on the close side of the table. The two seated shuffled over to make room. Layla scanned the bodies, spotting name tags on their lapels.

"Odin," she mused, looking at the fur jacket wearing man eyeing her. "You're not as impressive as I thought you'd be."

"I am as impressive as I want to be, Young Lady. I'm the King of Asgard. Who are you?"

Layla smirked. "Name's Layla. No one important, not even a God of anything. Just Layla, Daughter of Hecate and Beelzbub."

"Hecate?" The man at the head of the table said, "The old witch goddess from Greece?"

"Baldur, you're talking about her mother," Kali murmured, taking a sip of wine. "Pleasure to meet you Layla. Would you like to sit?"

Layla took the offered chair. "And you are?"

"Kali, from India. Appetizer?" She licked her painted nail and sat back, silk red shirt crinkling just right.

The two Asian men passed a tray to her of what looked like cream cheese puff balls. She took one and bit into it's fluffy insides.

And promptly spit it out. "What the Hell is that?"

The blonde woman across from her sneered. "Only the greatest delicacy your punk ass has ever tasted. Brain Puffs. Delish.

Layla thought she might throw up. "Brains? That is disgusting!"

Now they were all making faces at her.

"Brains are disgusting?" The black man across the table puffed out his chest. His name tag read, Ganesh. "How old are you?"

"Grow up, Fatty," Layla snapped. "I don't eat human flesh like the rest of you."

"A pity," Baldur said, "for all we've got to serve tonight is made from humans."

"The wine?"

Kali smiled, "Oh, that's regular wine. Pass her a bottle, Mercury?"

Her glass was filled and the bottle left in the corner of the table. Kali and Baldur turned to each other, whispering flirtatiously.

After a moment, in which Layla did some really fast problem solving, the doors burst open.

In, one very large black man and two scrawnier Asians, frog walked Sam and Dean Winchester into the room. They cast their eyes over the seated guests and lit upon Layla.

"You?"

Layla rolled her eyes. "Me. What are you two doing here?"

Dean snarked, "Not having the buffet. Where are your friends?"

Kali lifted her glass. "You guys know each other?"

"In passing," Layla allowed, pretending to take a casual sip of wine. "And to answer your question, Dean, I can only hope she is safe."

Right then, Mercury returned to the room, though Layla had not noticed him leave, rolling in front of him one of those food trolleys with a covered plate.

"Baron, if you would seat our guests of honor." Baldur motioned to the two plush chairs sitting a little away from the ends of the table. The Baron, the large black man holding the boys' arms, marched them past Layla and sat them both down.

Mercury unveiled a severed head, decorated and seasoned. Layla kept here eyes on the wine glass in her hand.

"I call this meeting today with pride," Baldur announced, rising to his feet and tapping a fork on his glass. "To think I would see so many Gods under one roof. A toast, to common enemies and new blood."

Hands raised glasses in agreement. Layla turned her eyes onto Sam as he glared at her. He mouthed at her, 'What the hell'

She shook her head with the smallest motion she could.

"Now, to be clear, this is a peaceful gathering, so not slaughtering each other and hands off the virgins."

There was some chuckling at that. Baldur smiled and kept talking.

"Apparently, the end of the world is nigh. The Judeo-Christian swabs are on a roll and they mean to take us with."

"Tell me about it. Those self-righteous pomps have been all over the place."

Baldur nodded to the blonde woman. "All too true, Pele. We need to come together now and make a plan for survival."

As Baldur talked, Layla thought. She was putting pieces together. The storm outside, the road being so messed up. Alice being missing. Then the severed head passed in front of her. One of the servers wisely skipped offering it to her, but she saw it; hazel-blue eyes like muddied water, the beauty mark under her left ear, and a scar barely visible on her jaw. Layla stopped moving, her blood going cold.

Even as the Gods talked death upon them, Sam still noticed Layla go pale and looked to the head that was going around.

"Oh, no," he whispered.

The glass in Layla's hand shattered into a million pieces, scattering on the table cloth.

"Would you like to add to the conversation?" Baldur inquired, a hint of disapproval in his tone.

Layla swallowed a lump in her throat. "Oh, no, keep right no, talking about killing humans as if they weren't in the room."

"I don't understand."

She dug her fingernails into the table. "Have any of you actually tried talking to humans?"

Ganesh laughed. "Why bother? They are little more than ants."

"Ants that you rely on!" The table cracked under her palm. She stood, teeth grinding. "The fucking Cattle you eat and yet you treat them as worse than such. You are pathetic, elitist crap."

Kali raised a hand. Layla felt a pressure push her back into her seat.

"Relax, child. You will understand in time."

The chandelier shattered. Layla's eyes turned black as she pushed through Kali's force. Kali stared.

"You killed my friend. You sit at this table and expect me to ignore it as you feast on her flesh?"

Dean started, only now taking a closer look at the food.

"Your friend?" Odin looked at the severed head. "You brought her with. If she was your friend, why bring her to a meeting with Gods?"

Mercury suddenly looked rather unfomfortable as Layla smiled angrily.

"How cute, you think I was invited. I came here with HER, you crappy piece of shit."

"Mercury," Baldur started to growl.

"Oh, don't start getting pissy at him," Layla snapped. She raised her hand and the table started vibrating. "I'd worry about me."

Lightning crackled across the floor. Odin stood up and pointed at Layla.

"I give you one warning, Child."

"I give you none, Old Man." Black flames shot out of her fingers. Ganesh yelped as the flames latched onto the table at his elbow, eating their way up his arm in seconds. In a heartbeat, the table was on fire. The Gods tumbled, shoving back in an attempt to escape, but the fire spread too fast.

"Holy," Dean swore, pulling Sam with him back to the windows.

"She is pissed."

"No Duh. How are we supposed to get out of here?"

Sam shrunk back to the wall. The black fire filled half the room in moments. As they stared in horror, expecting any moment to die, A gray jacket wearing man appeared in front of them, grabbed both the boys by the arm and zapped them both into the parking lot. Sam gasped.

"Gabriel?" Dean croaked. "What are you doing here?"

Rugged and serious for the moment, Gabriel watched as the window blew out and the fire crawled up the wall. "I was here for the meeting, but that's over with. Lucky for you two, or you'd be toast like the rest of them."

"Uh, yeah, um since when is fire black?" Sam ran a hand through his hair.

Gabriel grimaced. "Cursed flames. Never seen someone use them before, but I have been a bit out of the loop."

"Dude," Dean exclaimed, "A bit? More like a lot. Like, where the hell have you been? It's the apocalypse out there."

"Oh, I noticed. Buck up and do your parts already."

"Excuse me?"

They all flinched at the sound of something exploding. One last burst of fire rolled over the crumbling walls and the flames shrunk down to nothing. They heard and hoarse yell and something breaking.

Dean stepped over the ashen remains of the bushes. The entire room was gone, plus most of the surrounding space, leaving only a crusty edge to the walls.

Following the sound of crying, they found Layla sitting on the floor with tears streaming down her face.

Dean awkwardly searched for something to say, sounding more like a moaning tree than a human being. Sam scowled at him and knelt next to her.

"I'm sorry," he said. "About Alice."

She coughed. "I'm fine."

"You just lost your friend and killed a bunch of Pagan Gods."

Layla grabbed him by the throat. "I AM a pagan god. Watch your tongue."

"Hey!" Dean lunged in, pulling her off his brother. "You mind?"

She stepped back and scrubbed at her cheeks. "Yeah, I mind. Who's the skater boy?"

Gabriel cleared his throat. "My name's Lo-"

"This dick is Gabriel, Angel of the Lord," Dean said over him. "And a friend, so don't go burning him."

"He's not going to try smiting me, is he?"

Glaring at Dean, Gabriel said, "No, I'm not one of my brothers."

"Good. Or I'd smoke you too."

"But," Gabriel added, "I would like to ask your name."

"Layla." She wiped her nose on a sleeve and sniffed. "Not that it matters."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Why were you even here? Didn't you know they eat humans?"

Layla shoved Dean through what was left of the wall. "Screw you, Dean. Course I knew my relatives are crappy, human-eating, slobs."

"Dean!" Sam rushed to check on his brother.

Gabriel considered her closely. "Not you though, it would seem."

"It wasn't my idea. She wanted to stop for the night. Now I'm alone again." Layla looked around at the wreckage. "You guys should leave. More angels will be here soon. Ones that are less friendly."

"Why?" Sam asked as he helped his brother up. Layla somberly strolled through the ashes.

Gabriel sighed. "Black Flames. If left unchecked, they can destroy the world. God ordered that any user should be killed on sight."

"So, get lost," Layla yelled over her shoulder, still picking her way through the rubble. She walked until she reached the untouched part of the hotel. Then she stopped, staring at the perfect walls as if they were the ones covered in ash and scorch marks.

She shook her head and moved forward.

Layla's hands shook when she got to the room. When the key card didn't work, she kicked the door in. Layla went to the bags, still unpacked on the floor and crouched there with tears streaming down her face.


End file.
